Scar Tissue
by Khalko
Summary: Long time ago in West Blue on a petty island lived a boy. He dreamed of leaving to the sea and the wish was granted. But not in the way he would have wanted. A take on Crocodile's past from his childhood to the events in Marineford. OCs are both minor and main characters, not for the purpose of pairing to the canon characters. Eventual DoflaCro.
1. Before The Day Turns Into Night

Several days' of rain had stopped on the eastern side of the Kupeat-island. The once so puff clouds shrank and shrank in the sky until sun conquered it embracing the land below. In the small town of Uliami, the colors of houses, streets and palm trees were glowing, transforming into lighter shades, including the black hair of the boy. An unusual expression was decorating his face: The eleven year-old Crocodile was smiling.

The child was welcoming the change of weather; he was not allowed to go out to play when the rain clouds were heavy. And this country was not lacking of rain. Well, depending on _where _you lived. This was due to the peculiar plants which all the inhabitants of Kupeat referred to as 'gobblers'. Whoever had first came up with the name had hit the nail on the head: The plants were greedy when it came to moisture. Whenever there was rain they would take the most of it. It was an advantage for the plants beside them which took all the fluid pouring from the gobblers that had drank more than they could make use of. This had led to the forming of swamp areas throughout the island. The ares varied from a couple meters to ones the size of a small country. As for the area framing them, the soil was arid and practically nothing grew there. Only when you took enough distance the vegetation started reappearing as the effect of the gobblers didn't reach. Uliami, which streets Crocodile was pacing through, belonged to the dry area.

The boy shifted the strand of a small sack to his shoulder and quickened his steps, ignoring the crowd of kids yelling at him. Unfortunately he bumped into one when turning around the corner. When he realized whom he had collided with, his more typical expression was back on its place.

"Croco! You going to the swamps?" the boy's eyes sparkled upon recognition. He quickly collected himself up from the ground, not noting the dust that had collected from the ground. His hair was the same color; pale clay, now with the sun's adjustment almost white.

The golden eyes were uninviting.

"Maybe…"

The sparkling in the younger boy's eyes intensified: "I'm coming too! I read about these really cool bugs that glow in the dark like a lamp! I want to catch them!"

The urge to tell the boy to take a hike was great. Crocodile bit his underlip. Fulo was annoying but Crocodile didn't want to do anything that would upset the boy's baker mother. She always had something little to give to Crocodile when he appeared in front of her door.

"Fine." He groaned.

The boy practically beamed from hearing the approval and rushed to his house yelling Crocodile that he'd get his stuff.

_Great. _

Crocodile leaned to the high clay wall behind him. Now he'd have to delay his visit to babysit the dork. Fulo the fool, as he used to curse mentally upon the sight of him. When the boy showed back gripping the straps of a hefty bag, Crocodile started to lead the way, kicking a stone here and there out of the road. There could have been more stones in Crocodile's opinion.

The still cool sand under their feet gradually gave way to a moist ground. Crocodile glimpsed at the others feet.

"What?" Fulo blinked.

"Just made sure you have suitable shoes," the boy explained and halted.

"What now? Why did you stop?"

Crocodile exhaled deeply before explaining his actions yet again:

"We have to tie these shoelaces," Crocodile's few bangs that were not tamed behind to the back of his head shifted forward when he crouched to his shoes.

"But they are tied!" Fulo pointed at his shoes with both of his hands to reinforce his words.

"I know…What I mean is, you have to make sure they are really tight. Make an extra knot."

"But why?"

At this point Crocodile started to weigh if the pastries were worth the trouble.

"Because if your foot is loose on the inside of the shoe, and you bring your foot up from the swamp ground, you'll lose your shoe," Crocodile described slowly.

"It gets stuck there because of the under pressure," Crocodile concluded.

"Oh,"Fulo prolonged the vocal, making Crocodile unsure if the boy had caught his explanation. But the younger boy began obediently to tighten his shoelaces so they continued on with their little journey. Crocodile was taking them to a completely different route from what he had been having in mind before the blond had came in to the picture. He had no desire to share his secret with the blond, let alone anyone in the village. He wasn't entirely sure himself what the forest hold inside in this direction but the only thing he was focusing on, was to keep going as far away from the hideout as possible. He figured that after some wandering, Fulo would get bored, tired and hungry and would want to get back home and stuff himself full of cakes.

"So, do you know where we can find them?" the younger boy asked. They had traveled some time now and their conversation had only consisted of the blond's sounds of admiration towards the life surrounding them. The sun was now straight above them, flickering through the hand-sized leaves.

Crocodile's brows furrowed.

_We…_

"They might appear anytime now," Crocodile shrugged. He didn't care if they found those stupid bugs or not. How could they even find them when it was daylight for the next good hours? It sure would have been nice if one would have presented itself, the fool would catch it and they would be on their way, both satisfied.

"Can I try that?" the blond nodded towards the pistol hanging on Crocodile's belt.

The raven-haired placed his right hand over the gun: "No."

Taking the boy along had proven even a bigger nuisance than he had thought. Crocodile had to constantly yell him to keep his hands off of the venomous or carnivorous plants, capable of eating birds, or lizards with a skin that gave you a burn if you touched it.

"How do you know all this stuff?" Fulo asked with a look full of genuine admiration.

Crocodile waved his hand dismissively at the boy: "This is basics."

Fulo leaned his head backwards and stretched out the words Crocodile had been waiting for: "Can we go back?" The raven-haired nodded and turned his back to the other.

"Sure," he hummed and mentally bloomed in triumphant. That was, until he heard a snap of the wood. Specifically, the snap of the branch they had been standing on. Crocodile yelped as the only thing under his feet was now thin air and reached out his hand to whatever was in his vision. He got a hold with his left hand from a small branch and grimaced from the momentary friction caused by the speed and his own weight. He tightened his grip, afraid that his fingers would slip.

"Help!" A familiar voice snapped his attention back. Crocodile scanned below him, turning his head awkwardly from left to right and found the other boy. The blond hadn't been as lucky and was now wiggling in the moist ground, sinking deeper into it with every movement he made.

"Don't move!" Crocodile cursed and after securing that there was ground below him, let go of the branch. His feet made a rough meeting with the moist, but solid ground but Crocodile ignored the sensation when the yells continued.

"I said, don't move!" Crocodile marched, something cracked under one of his steps but he didn't check what. The boy was on the verge of tears when Crocodile reached a hand out to him. He yanked him out easily. Fortune in misfortune: Fulo had managed to drop into a spot that had a thin layer of the sinking kind. His pants were covered with a greenish color all the way around his knees. But Crocodile noticed that the boy's eyes were still wide with the shock. Crocodile panted and was about to snarl when the boy suddenly claimed with a trembling voice, his eyes tightly behind Crocodile's shoulder:

"A bananawani?"

A shiver went through Crocodile and he turned reluctantly. Sure enough, he instantly distinguished a sturdy yellow head with its wide yaw and a banana above its eyes. And the beast looked _very_ pissed off as it swam towards them, fast. Crocodile recalled the cracking sound and grimaced when he caught a glimpse of a broken bananawani egg, half of its contents in the sole of his shoe.

_Not good…_

Crocodile tapped his vest but didn't feel the pistol's cold surface.

"Croco, your weapon!" Fulo shouted and pointed at the feet of the tree Crocodile had dropped from. Crocodile shot his eyes to the pistol laying on the ground and was about to make a leap for it when the boy rushed before he even had the time. The bananawani turned its head towards the sudden movement and Crocodile's eyes widened when he comprehended just how big the creature was, concluding from the head peeking above the gloomy water. The blond clumsily fitted the weapon in his hold, and began firing at the creature that now slithered on the wet land, flinching from the rare shots that found their target.

"Roll me the gun!" Crocodile growled. The bananawani was only meters away and Fulo's hand circled as he located his aim.

"Do it, you idiot!" The pleading yet furious tone worked and Fulo sent the pistol circling on the ground to Crocodile who grabbed it to his hand. As the bananawani chased Fulo now backing up from it, so was Crocodile chasing bananawani's head to the center of his aim. The yellow creature halted and let out a pathetic, high-pitched voice when Crocodile's bullet hit the growth on its head. It kept whimpering and curled up. With no sympathy passing to their minds, the boys fled from the scene, leaving the predator to suffer alone its major class head ache.

"Dammit, I got saved by a girl..!" Fulo snapped to himself.

Crocodile restrained himself from pushing the boy to the bog and leaving him to drown.

* * *

Roat was cooking up stew for dinner in the hideout. It was a hassle, making food for this amount of people. The bright side was, the bandits were not demanding any high class cuisine. Not that he even could have conjured up something like that from the ingredients. It was usual that he'd come up with something new to try, and then looting the cabinets find that they either didn't have the ingredients or they had molded.

So Roat had given up on honing his chef skills on new areas and pushed root snake stew in the oven for the thousandth time in his life. He peeked through the window at the clear sky and pondered if a certain little boy was on his way already. As he dropped the oven gloves somewhere on the floor, Cordin stepped into the kitchen. The men nodded at each other and Cordin took the mug Roat offered him, having just filled it with water from the jug.

"The kid reminds me when I was young. He belongs to the sea. You know the way his eyes lit up when I tell those stories?" Cordin smiled after sipping some of the liquid.

Roat leaned on to the doorway, not with all of his weight, to prevent it from falling. He wasn't sure if he liked where this conversation was going but let the older man talk.

"There is a marine base or something like that in the capital. They take in kids and train them to join their troops," Cordin leaned backwards on his chair as he turned to properly look at his subordinate.

Roat snorted: "But a marine..? That..wouldn't that be quite bad for us if he joined them?"

Cordin lowered his brow in warning: "I trust him. And so should you."

Roat pointed what his boss was not bringing up: "I don't think the boy could meet us, should the circumstances turn out so."

Cordin inhaled his cigar. A weary smile constructed on his face.

"I know. But I have thought this through."

* * *

Crocodile didn't waste any time after escorting the boy to the edge of the town and leaped back in the forest. There would still be enough daylight left for a trip to hideout and back to town if he left immediately.

When the clearing started, Crocodile, satisfied, knew that he had arrived. In the middle of the clearing, was a sad excuse for a building. There were gaps all around between the sloppy walls, the roof was visibly crooked and none of the house's inhabitants cared to repaint the walls which color barely stood out from the wood. On the other hand, for a group of bandits living in a forest this was the best they could do.

The boy paced through the yard, noting that the idiots hadn't rooted out the weeds yet. Inside the boy lifted the heavy calico fabric out of his way and entered the room where all the bandits were gathered, relaxing on wide cushions or padded chairs. The air was thick of the smell of smoke.

"It stinks in here! Stop smoking!" Crocodile complained and wrinkled the upper part of his nose.

The culprit sat on the largest chair in the room. His wide stomach pounced when he laughed:

"Kuyeh hoh hoh hoh! But it's good that you don't like the smell," Cordin, the bandit leader and the keeper of the hideout stated.

"Huh, why?" The raven-haired child inquired.

_Is he doing it on purpose..?_

"Because I guess it means you won't start this bad habit!" the bandit leader took another inhale from his fat cigar.

"Eww, no way in hell!" The boy's head furthered away as if he concretely avoided the proposition.

"Kuyeh hoh hoh hoh!" His subordinates joined his laughter.

Cordin's whimsical brows which you couldn't tell where the other ended and the other started, crashed down when he spotted the purple blemishes on Crocodile's face and arms, near the shoulders: "You have bruises!"

Crocodile looked to the ground.

"Dare I even ask why..?" The man brought his palms together before bringing his hands, thumbs forward, to lean on his nose bridge.

11 years ago Cordin couldn't have imagined the conversation he was having this moment. He never had been the type to get children. And that still hold truth. He never had gotten a child. He had stumbled on one.

* * *

_The bandits had quality time with an army of barrels full of sake. Wasn't every day a liqueur delivery carriage crossed their path. As soon as they got back to the hideout, they opened the barrels and from that point on, they poured and poured the sweet contents down their throats. Cordin had been the first one whose bladder's limit gave in first and when he fumbled up the others grinned in conspiracy. One of them stated that he now had to get water. The others shouted their agreements before Cordin could even question the request. So he took the bucket with him, shaking his head. _

_The bandits broke into a mutual fit of laughter when they saw the mud-stained baby Cordin hold firmly in his hands when he returned._

"_No, no, Gordin. You were supposed to get water, not meat."_

"_Didn't know you've had some lady-action, boss!"_

"_Shut up!"_

_Gordin finished half of his cigar until the laughter volumed down._

"_Still, where did you manage to find her? The next town should be miles away."_

_Cordin closed his eyes in deep think._

"_I'm guessing some coocoo tribe left her praying for good hunting luck or some other bullshit."_

"_Well…we could at least give her a name," the woman with the curly purple hair suggested._

* * *

"You got into a fight, didn't you?"

"It was not a fight!" Crocodile was quick to protest but gave in when the man rose the other half of his brow. Deciding that it was for the better if he left the bananawani out, apart from that, he could tell Cordin the origin of his injuries.

"Well..Yes it was a fight. But I didn't do it on purpose. Liak and Thep were giving others bad throws on purpose so I told them they'd get kicked out of the group if they didn't stop. And Thep punched me, so I punched him back..."

"Fine, fine." Cordin waved his hand and the boy closed his mouth.

Crocodile had lived his life's first years with the bandits in the swamp area. Though, they had never taken him with them to the raids. Crocodile had learned at young age to read as they left him with books to pass his time with. By the time he turned eight, the bandits sneaked at the night to the town and left the boy there.

For three years Cordin had hoped for the boy to find a new family. But Crocodile failed to this day to have any interest with the town's folk apart from asking for food. He visited the bandits regularly after finding his way to their hideout. The first time he appeared back in front of them got them on high alarm and cursing themselves for not blindfolding the kid when they had transported him away. What if the village people had tracked him? After some time they were able to relax. It became clear that the town's folk didn't see any connection with them and a homeless kid.

The man tilted his head slowly. When he stopped his head, his eyes widened. Crocodile winced when the man suddenly threw himself backwards with a short but strong laughter.

"Kuyeh hoh! Well, I admit that you are no coward. Well, one can't be when one has the same name as the beast king," Cordin patted the yellow belt on his tummy.

"Yeah, yeah." The boy simply shrugged, not bothering anymore to comment that the name really wasn't exactly the same. Why couldn't they have just given him a more ordinary name?

"And friends have arguments sometimes, they just do good. Let some steam out," Cordin brought his fist to his palm and nodded.

"They are not my friends." The boy stated and crossed his arms.

Cordin could only cover his face to his hand and mumble sharply.

"No one can live by themselves, dear Croco. But...Ah, I guess life will teach you that better to you than any of my words."

Seeing that the boy was getting bored with these lectures, Cordin brushed the matter off and asked if the boy was in the mood to listen his rambles of the old pirate days of his. Crocodile nodded eagerly and Cordin smiled as he stroke his bald chin.

"Once there was a time we encountered sea monkeys."

"Sea monkeys? Crocodile blinked.

"Yes, they were monkeys that lived in the sea and are at least ten times bigger than the ones you see here."

Crocodile nodded in amaze.

"And as they emerged from the water, I was having my breakfast. Boy, was I scared shitless when I saw them. I tried offering them my half-eaten banana." the man hold out his hand and curled air between.

"Ku ha ha ha!" Crocodile chuckled. Cordin would have given up half of his men for those laughters. They were the only moments Crocodile didn't speak slowly and Cordin could hear his unbind voice.

"Hmm, yes, maybe they would have accepted my offer, had it been a full banana. Kuyeh hoh hoh hoh!"

* * *

After listening to several entertaining memoirs, Crocodile stepped outside when he met Roat at the yard.

"I'm leaving now," Crocodile informed him but the look in Roat's eyes was holding him.

"What is it?"

Roat seemed to be in some kind of inner fight with himself before he let out an almost undetectable sigh and revealed what was on his mind.

"There..might come a time you have to start your own life."

Crocodile's eyes widened and he was quiet for quite a time until he shrugged his shoulders.

Roat sighed louder this time and ruffled the boy's hair.

"Oh, I didn't mean to upset you, boy. We're not talking about anytime soon." Roat reassured, partially lying, because they hadn't discussed the time yet.

Crocodile swallowed with effort and his lips tightened together but he didn't say a word.

A sight of smoke lingering from inside the doorway foretold of Cordin's appearance to the yard. The large man furthered his hand holding the cigar and wholeheartedly hummed: "Oh, come here. Give me a hug before you leave."

Crocodile felt only a tiny bit of hesitation before pressing himself against the chubby man. The little boy noticed how the older man smelled like those horrible cigars of his and how he felt damp from wearing the same shirt for the third day in a row. Crocodile noticed these things, but it didn't bother him for that moment. When Crocodile pulled himself away and left towards the city, he felt his cheeks tingling.

Hijan, the vice leader of the bandit group, scratched the back of her ear and slouched to join Cordin for a smoke outside. She grinned to the bandit leader:

"I'm a little bit jealous, you know."

**/A/N: **

***edit 24.4.2014 I fixed some things in the first three chapters Venere Veritas was kind enough to point out with improvements. Thank you very much~***

**Thank you for reading! I think the next chapter is way shorter but I'll also get it finished shortly, maybe in a week? I have worked bits from here and there in this project; I have written almost every chapter some bit; some only have notes, some are nearly complete. The time scale will be pretty much Croco's life until the events in Marineford. Though, understandably, there will be time skips. Some short, some longer.**

**And yes, Crocodile is a boy in a female body before meeting Ivankov. I found the fandom theory interesting and it fits this story quite well./**


	2. Unwanted Help

A week had passed since Crocodile's visit to the bandits when a caballo alpaca with its rider arrived in the village. The man set down from the saddle and patted the white animal. He stretched his legs before he paced to the only cafe of Uliami. Apart from the tables, chairs and the counter, the place was rather sparsely decorated. A large den den mushi was in the corner, a poster hanging above it informing '_250 beli/ a_ _call_'.

The traveller was welcomed with warm smiles, most of them lined with wrinkles. Nick had yet to collect those years before him even if he had passed the days of youth long ago. Both the customers and the staff looked at him with curiosity. It was not everyday they saw someone from outside of the town.

A man beside the wide window had noticed the outsider before he had entered and was now waving to him.

"Nick, over here!"

The officer nodded to the folks and made his way to the window seat. Both of the men were beaming and babbling to each other even after the waiter brought the stranger a large pint of water.

"I thought your screws were out of their place when you moved here voluntarily, Hedan. But now I see why you did." The man took in the atmosphere of the cafe.

"Well, nothing is stopping you. Pack your things in the capital and move here," the man joked and took a deep breath of his tobacco.

"You should know better than me that there's no work here." The police said as if he had taken the other seriously.

"Well..yeah, you'd have a hard time finding crime here to fight against."

The police sipped his drink in deep thought.

It sounded as if he was wondering to himself when he said: "So, there really hasn't been a single assault into this village for years?"

"Hey, you are the one who has the statistics on that sort of stuff." Hedan pointed at the officer and grinned. "But yeah, this is a place where literally nothing happens. In both good and bad." The man examined the street outside the window. Wind raised dust from the ground into a spiral. The only life Hedan was able to detect outside were a few youngsters playing. Nick also started to examine the town's life.

_Kids. _

The officer couldn't help but smile at the view. Those little sprouts never ceased to have a soft spot in his heart.

"So, just relax for now, you workaholic." Hedan shed some butt of his tobacco to his empty plate.

"No worries," Nick patted the clothes, today civilian, on him to reassure his friend.

The other was about to object him with his collections of their middle school time but gave up.

The door opened and a raven-haired youth entered. The child rushed to the cashier who reluctantly handed over to her some dry cookies from yesterday. The kid muttered a barely noticeable 'thanks'.

"Hey girl, hold on a second!"

Nothing could have been more venomous than Crocodile's glare that moment towards Nick. The officer blinked his eyes before walking to the counter and buying three meat pies. Smiling, he handed them in a paper bag to the girl who took it after some hesitation and hurried out of the store.

The woman behind the register grunted. "Don't take it to your heart. She is always like that." The officer shook his head and mumbled that he was used to kids without manners. He returned to his friend at the table who continued firing questions about the officer's life since they had last seen.

* * *

A soft darkness was starting to cover the town before the men decided it was time to let the ma'am close the place.

"Hmm, I hope that girl also has a place to sleep at," the police thought aloud.

Hedan pondered for a time enough to awaken the officer's curiosity:

"She does have a place to sleep, doesn't she?"

His friend shrugged. The deep concentration on his face faded when he chuckled:

"They say she goes time to time to the wilderness. But I don't know..Probably just a joke because..well, you saw her attractive personality."

The officer nodded in agreement. He would have left the matter at that. But when he was on his way to his caballo, ready to get back home, he bumped into the girl.

"Evening," he nodded and noticed that the girl still had the food, including a small rucksack.

"Evening," Crocodile replied without even looking at him in the eyes.

The officer was about to ask about the girl's parents' whereabouts when she rushed away. The girl was really heading towards the woods. He stared at her back in confusion when suddenly, it hit him. Only two kinds of people lived amongst the swamps. Tribal people and outlaws. The former hardly left the forest. Nick reached for the end of his pocket until he found the little den den mushi. He snorted, picturing his friend's face if he knew what he was about to do.

_Fine, maybe I'm a little bit workaholic._

**/A:n I referred to Crocodile here as a girl because this was from a view that saw him so. I'm not good at making long chapters, sorry...OTL/**


	3. Losing The Trail

**/A/N: Big, big thanks for pikku_millie and ECA. You guys are a big help with your ideas when my writing gets really stuck *inserts heart here for each of you***

**Finally, I got this chapter done. Critics, comments, questions, anything at all that comes to your mind, leave a review or a pm. Tell me what you liked or absolutely hated. I appreciate the feedback! But anyways, I hope you'll enjoy~~/**

The bandit leader's face flashed persistently through Crocodile's mind as he hopped over the wide roots sticking up from the ground. His imagination strained the old man's expression with wrinkles, caused by Crocodile's current actions. Besides the days of heavy raining, the nights were out of the question for a visit to the hideout. They might have given him the basic training for defending himself along with his pistol but they were not exactly thrilled of the idea of him purposefully seeking any trouble.

"It's best to leave the wilds for its owners the moment the sun sinks down" they said. And Crocodile respected that logic. He only strayed from obeying it on a few occasions. This was one of those times he made an exception to the rule. Crocodile's idea had lingered until the late dusk and he was too impatient to wait until morning. Besides, he had traveled a hundred times this same path. It was the shortest and safest. The boy could recite the trunks and the branches that were reliable under the weight of the foot and the hand. And the ones that were less so through the hard way. Fortunately for Crocodile, the cost had been only minor, as for figuring out the more animate part of the forest. Cuts, sprains, burns and bruises had all faded eventually along with the pain and ache. Rather than leaving marks on his young skin, his blunders aged Cordin and the others.

A tangle of deep, hoarse noises strengthened when Crocodile pushed the creaking door open. He stepped in to the house that was dark apart from the streaks of moon light entering from the windows. It was a soft light, like a layer of milk. The boy went through all of the rooms in hopes of finding someone who wasn't already sleeping before checking the common bedrooms. To his disappointment all of the bunks were in use by their owner, each one of them fast asleep. The weapons were on the floor on a carelessly tossed pile.

_They must have returned from a raid…_

Crocodile stared at the snoring inhabitants and went to the kitchen, not even trying to prevent the clumsy wooden floor from crying under his steps. He would have preferred them to be much more noisier. The raven-haired halted at one of the dinner tables and piled up some plates to make room. He placed down the rustling paper bag that still had all the pies inside. Despite his drowsiness and the knowledge that he'd have to trek the same distance back to town, Crocodile was pleased for accomplishing his whim. The bandit leader might frown at first upon finding those pies in the morning. But then he'd stuff them in his mouth, notice how delicious they were and would nod to himself and think aloud that Crocodile sure was a fine boy.

Crocodile closed the front door behind him and his shadow got loose from the bask of moonlight in the clearing when he rustled back to the trail.

Nick stayed completely still against the rough trunk as he observed the girl coming back outside from the shady building. She wasn't holding the paper bag in her hands anymore. There were only a handful of trees between the man and the child when she blended in the shadows. It seemed that she was heading back to Uliami. Nick let her go, he had memorized the route. And he was more interested in the people in the house before him. Nick was trembling. He was furious.

_Those assholes..How long have they made that little girl steal for them? Even the meat pies I gave her! Poor girl. And she is so afraid that she's unable to tell anyone in the town…Maybe they even threaten her. Maybe they have her whole family as a hostage!_

The officer nodded to himself in the dark. His instincts had been right on making that call for a back-up from the next town. They had first hesitated but after taking a look at his records inclined to sending him help. And they even gave the special permission for the men to take the zap-alpacas, the fastest animal breed on the island. They would get these bastards hiding in the building under arrest and for Nick it was self-evident that they had to act tonight. He didn't want the girl to suffer a moment longer. Nick nearly jumped when the den den mushi started ringing and lifted the receiver up after collecting his breath.

_That was fast…_

He described in detail the route through the forest to the clearing and hang up the phone.

* * *

The bushes rustled when a crowd of officers with their guns on their backs greeted Nick. One of them approached him.

"The situation?"

"No changes," Nick informed.

"We give them one change to surrender in peace."

Nick agreed though he frowned mentally. It was unfair that this scum was treated better than they deserved. Had he the authority they'd eliminate these criminals on the spot when they were vulnerable. But he had vowed to the code.

The man next to Nick held out his hand and was given the megaphone. He adjusted it to the fullest volume to make sure it cut through the snoring from inside the house. A shout rang out in the clearing: "This is the police! Come out with your hands in the air!"

_They better not have any captives in there. _

Nick gripped his gun tighter against his shoulder.

The bandits' sleeping halted and they fumbled out of their beds when the loud words from outside had penetrated into their consciousness. Their quick hope of them being just a fragment of a messed up nightmare was crushed away when the command was repeated, with an addition that they better hurry up, or else they'd start the fire. The bandits were whispering loudly, taking glances from the windows to the yard and crouching close to the floor level:

"They found us!"

"Fuck!"

"Fucking hell!"

"What now?"

"How did they find us?"

There weren't a whole lot of reasons to choose from. Everyone knew, and at the same time weren't still sure how this had happened. The look on Hijan's face tensed when she went for her gun.

"Get your weapons."

She started firing the men outside before the others even got a hold of their weapons. The police answered with gunfire.

"Hijan! We can't kill them all!" Roat yelled in desperation after the shooting on both sides had been going on for some time. The police were outnumbered by them by this point, they didn't need to continue the fighting.

"If we do that, _they_ will hunt us down!" he tried reasoning his friend but she showed no signs of ending her bullet fire.

"Stop!"

Hijan gave a sideways glance as she spoke: "If we leave any alive-"

"Then who do you think will be in trouble?"

Roat stared at her for a while, nodded and positioned himself once again in the shooting position.

Hijan stopped firing, clinging to her gun only when the last man of the opposing side was on the ground, not moving. The area was scattered by the lifeless bodies, one of them their friend.

Cordin crouched to the body of their now former chef, sighed and commanded:

"We are leaving. Take nothing unnecessary with you."

A weak protest could be heard in the crowd: "But what about-"

"I said we are leaving!" Cordin interrupted.

"Someone has to explain to the boy" one of them proposed warily while the man next to him wept.

"And what do you think will happen if they send another group here and they find a message before Crocodile, huh?" Cordin spatted. He kicked the brown-haired body laying on the ground with a force that would have severely damaged the guts, had they been operational.

After packing the vital supplies the bandits took a last glance at their home before heading deeper into the woods. To a destination they themselves were not sure of. After an eerie silence the dark forest burst back into chirps. A bird group in the trees that had been observing the place for a while landed smoothly to the ground. The vultures skittered to the corpses. Three of the birds backed far away when one of the servings started shooing them. The rest of the flock ended their meal time as the shooing object now rose from the ground. The officer breathed heavily and looked around the former battle field. He didn't notice the angry shrieking of the birds as they flew back to the treetops. The only survivor of the police group started taking rough steps. His head hang down.

The sun was starting to be visible in the horizon's edge when the police found his way back to the outskirts of the town. The old man on the porch set down his news paper and rushed to the wounded man. He grabbed a hold of the man in uniform just in time before he fainted to his arms.

* * *

Crocodile woke up in the deserted store to an extraordinary commotion outside. He brushed off the tangled bangs over his face and straightened himself up, stiff from the hard and dusty floor. The boy dragged himself to the door, then outside where a crowd was gathered tightly around an old granny from the edge of town, all chattering loudly. Crocodile heard bits here and there of the interrogation that was going on. A police. Gunshot wounds. Crocodile felt his throat drying and stepped away from the people, back to the building he kept his stuff in. The only thing he took with him in a hurry was his pistol. In case things were as bad as he feared they might be.

The boy's vague deductions were confirmed at the destination when he saw the clearing, now littered with half-eaten bodies, the birds still chewing them. Crocodile felt his stomach twisting and he awoke to the fact that he had been just standing there for some time and hadn't breathed. Crocodile eyed the unfamiliar bodies on the ground and a horrible realization hit him when he noticed their clothes.

* * *

_"Okay, this is important Crocodile, so listen closely," Hijan had suddenly coughed to make the nine-year-old stop reading. He had moved the book aside reluctantly and looked at her with his arms crossed. "There are certain people who…" At this point she glanced at Roat who leaned his head, closed his other eye and rotated his other hand. "…Who don't like us very much," the woman finished her sentence. Crocodile knew it wasn't just about dislike. He had heard about the police, thanks to the two grannies in the town who loved nothing more than to gossip. But he didn't bring his knowledge up. The boy nodded and Hijan took a paper and started scribbling something: "If you see someone like this in the town, don't talk to them and avoid coming here until that person has left for sure."_

_Hijan turned the paper so Crocodile could see the drawing. He couldn't maintain his mouth still when he saw the jumble of wobbling lines. Roat covered his mouth but the wrinkles around his eyes and the muffled laugh betrayed him. Hijan narrowed her eyes at his colleague but handed the paper and the pencil to his extended hands. After a moment Roat presented the two a colored picture of a uniform._

_Crocodile memorized the picture and hoped he would never see a person wearing the clothing in it._

* * *

Crocodile shook his head. He had to focus. He scanned the area. The tracks. He could follow them and find the bandits. Crocodile wasted no time when he found the row of marks on the ground. A mix of relief and panic started fighting inside him. They had some lead, he didn't know by how much but if he followed the foot marks and the crushed roots, eventually he'd get to where they were. The boy started pacing and except for the inviting, encouraging marks on the ground disregarded everything in his field of vision. When it had been an hour or two from the start of his tracking, delicate drips started falling from the sky.

_No…_

The amount of the drops multiplied gradually. Crocodile was fatigued but quickened his steps.

_No…_

His lungs were screaming for him to slow down. He couldn't afford to do it. Crocodile roared in frustration to distract himself from the pain. From the desperation. The leaves of the bushes and the trees were pressed downwards by the constant flow from the sky. The guiding signs for Crocodile were getting harder and harder to spot from the muddy ground, as was to keep balance on it.

"No, no, no!" Crocodile shouted with the small amount of breath he had left. His feet tangled and he fell in the dirt. He lifted himself up to his elbows, thoroughly soaked. His shirt and trousers were grimy. The rain's smashing in the forest was so loud that even Crocodile's wails between his weeping drowned under it.

**/A/N:I feel like such a bad person *incomprehensible grumbling*/**


	4. A New Family

**/A/N: In this chapter, I have a little bit of the gender issue at the end. It might be distressing to read if you are familiar with such problems. Hopefully I wrote the part well. I decided on sticking with one pronoun for Crocodile from now on because the character point of view varies more often. I know, sucks for the consistency as to the previous and coming chapters but it'll be less confusing. Hope you'll enjoy~~/**

The snake hissed a warning at the boy who had been inches away of stepping on it. The slithery creature dashed from the view in seconds in the bushes. Crocodile placed his foot down now that the small reptile was gone. Similar to half of the fauna he had came across in the swamp, the creature was inedible and venomous. The young boy had trekked deeper in the wilderness than ever before. The surrounding around him was resembling more a delta with brooks that widened around him into rivers as he walked forward. That's what he had been doing the past two days. Eating what little he found, resting and particularly _walking_. As if he had somewhere to go.

_You could always turn back and go back to the town. Yes, there would be trouble but what choice do you have, really?_

His own voice of reason nagged to him endlessly. And he did realize that he was not thinking straight anymore for not complying to what was self-evident. But as long as he was here on the lookout he had even the slightest chance to make everything right. At least telling himself that managed to shut down the other voice.

Crocodile rubbed his forehead to prevent the drops of sweat from running into his eyes. When he opened his eyes he noticed a peculiar sight in the distance peeking through the thick treetops. A combination of black and white.

_Wait, that's…_

The object was completely still so Crocodile had an easy time studying it. It had been long since Crocodile had spoken so his voice of discovery sounded rasp. Contrary to the delight that was starting to bubble inside him.

…_A pirate flag!_

He hadn't seen one before but the painted skull resting on the canvas was a sign he had been told the meaning of: 'We are pirates.'

Crocodile rushed towards the flag stumbling on his feet and hopping over the thinnest streams of water. When he reached the flag and the ship it loomed over with pride, Crocodile had to stop and catch his breath. The crowd around the ship had not noticed him, laying large chests in the water. So Crocodile moved closer and greeted them to get their attention. They presented him just that with a dozen of guns and swords pointing at him. The gesture confused the boy.

"I'm not the police," he had to cough after the words so his voice wouldn't die out: "Or the marine." Crocodile added after recollecting what little he knew about the relations pirates had. What mattered to him was that they were the good guys. Right..?

"What the hell?" Both of the sides were now confused. Crocodile had his small gun but other than that, a feeble kid alone with a mess of a hair was not that much of a threat so they lowered their weapons.

The boy decided it was for the best if he started explaining himself: "I saw your flag so I came here."

Crocodile sounded the idea as it came to him: "Because I want to join you."

The crowd of laughter began and Crocodile deeply regretted blurting out his intentions in such a clumsy way.

"What good would you be? A child?" The captain frowned, thinking how degrading it would look like to have a brat on board.

"And a girl at that."

Crocodile could hear the remark and had to grit his teeth.

"I know how to shoot with a pistol. I..I know how to fight without it too." He defended while raising his head to look at them.

"I can..I can shoot that parrot over there in the distance," Crocodile suggested and pointed at the bright red bird on the other side of the river. He wanted to prove that he was not lying. That he was useful.

"Any of us can do that…" the captain leaned his head upwards and sneered.

A man with a bronze piercing on his brow paced to his captain and whispered something.

"Of course I'll let you join us," a smirk spreaded to the captain's face as he nodded the other man away.

"But?" Crocodile inquired the reason for this sudden change of opinion.

"Yes! No more toilet duty for me!" Angry glares were shot to the man who raised a tardy hand to his mouth. The captain was about to bury his face in his hand but halted when Crocodile claimed:

"Fine. I get it. You want me to do the cleaning."

The crew blinked. They were expecting the kid to whimper in objection.

"I will do it," the boy confirmed to the conditions.

The captain stroke his lower lip for a while before casting an interrogative look through his crew. The nods and shrughs sealed the deal.

The captain arched his back to an excessive bow and snickered: "Welcome aboard."

* * *

"Watch out when you feed her, she might take your arm!" A couple of the men at the table chuckled at the remark pointed for the cook. She laid down the plate in front of Crocodile and rolled her eyes to him apologizing in behalf of her crew mates. Crocodile gorged the warm soup down, not for the taste but for the contentment brought by each spoonful filling his stomach. The pirates did feed him as any other member on the crew but the first days in the ship he had learned the concept of 'seasickness'. Rocking movement was not exactly the easiest thing to avoid on a ship at open sea. When some of the crew men had spotted him emptying his stomach over the railing they had laughed something about growing sea legs.

In the evening Crocodile opened the door to the room full of snoring pirates. Reluctantly, he entered and set himself on the bunk. The cushion under him was both thick and sturdy and the blanket he pulled over himself was soft. But Crocodile felt awkward when he tried to set himself in their hold. First he laid on his back. Then on his stomach. Then he shifted to both of his sides. All this while simultaneously attempting to volume out the snoring. It wasn't the snoring itself that was the problem. It was just that they did it the wrong way. The rhythm was wrong. The noises were wrong. Even the room had a foul scent. Eventually he managed to silence his mind. First came the patchy slumber and finally he fell in the depths of the unconscious.

Crocodile was on the deck weaving a rope. Someone approached him and the boy lifted his gaze up to see who the person was. Just as their eyes met the man in front of him smiled widely:

"Kuyehoh hoh hoh!"

"How are you here?" Crocodile fiddled with the rope but made sure it was firmly in his hold. He had a hunch that if it would slip out of his hands, something terrible would happen.

"Don't you want me to be here? Hmm, that's very cruel of you…" The smile faded downwards into a sulk.

Roat stepped next to the large man and explained: "Cordin is the captain of the ship. He was in the captain's cabin all the time."

_So that's why I didn't see him._

There were other people beside them consisting of both the pirates and the bandits. Though, the peoples' appearances seemed to change as his gaze wandered through them so it was hard to tell who belonged to which group.

"I command them all!" Cordin laughed boldly after noticing the boy's examining of the crowd.

Crocodile also laughed until confusion took over his joy.

"Why don't you smell of your cigars?" The little boy asked.

The old man didn't say a word as he stared at him questionably. Only now Crocodile realized that his brows were also wrong.

In the next blink of an eye Crocodile didn't see neither the brows or the man anymore. Just the ceiling. Crocodile lifted himself up and leered at the sleeping inhabitants of the room as if they were the guilty ones for his sudden stirring. Crocodile got up from the bed. He needed air. As he got closer to the door leading to the deck the boy heard the wind howling outside.

_What if they were right near, waiting for me?_

Crocodile pressed the handle downward.

_But they did mention leaving me._

When he opened the door it nearly freed itself abruptly from his hold. Crocodile closed the door behind him and leaned to it. A gale welcomed the boy by capturing away his warmth from his bare arms. The massive clouds on the sky didn't let a single star shine through their dirt grey color, only subtly giving away the dark sky blended with red and brown.

_Why would you go and look for them? You'd just get discarded again._

Maybe he was just imagining it but the breeze felt chillier. He supposed it was because his body heat wasn't keeping up so the coldness made quickly its way into his core. Crocodile brushed his arms to reduce the shivering that was beginning to take control.

_You threw me away._

He thought about the waves; how they were undoubtedly magnificent right now, so he slouched to the railing.

_Fine._

Crocodile crossed his arms on the railing and brought his attention to the turbulent waters below. His eyes widened from the enthralling view. The sea was as rough as he had expected but not as dark. What lighted the mass of salt water was a color show of red, yellow and light blue gleaming under the violent surface. Crocodile's vision drifted all the way to the horizon to see where they ended. In the distance where the sky and the ocean touched he could tell a glow. A faint one but a glow unmistakably. Crocodile brought his gaze back to get a closer inspection on the sight in his hands and arched forward as much as he could without falling over in the freezing water. The luminous corals in the form of towers had to be several meters in height. Possibly much more taller as Crocodile could only speculate on how deep the ocean floor layed. Above the nature's odd constructions, the waves glided and crashed with determination. Foaming and sending droplets flying far and wide with some meeting Crocodile's cheeks. The rush of water was always followed by a similar one, inescapably becoming the new start to the consistent pattern, then the end as it merged back to the sea.

_I'll do the same to you._

* * *

The cold breeze lingered inside the 12-year-old Crocodile even when the ship had left its origin. Crocodile's fingers and palms were still somewhat reddish but at least the stinging was gone. Crocodile tugged the blanket tighter around him in attempt to prevent any of the warm air inside the cloth escape. Two days ago when they had arrived to Veelu, Kiefer had thrusted a shovel in his hands and given the assignment of a human snow pusher. No doubt the asshole of a captain knew the job was a nuisance: Several meters of snow covered the view Crocodile could see from the deck. The sky on the other hand was filled with clouds that were determined of burying their ship too. So Crocodile had spent all his hours on the gruesome winter island on nothing but shoveling while the crew visited the island. Crocodile noted that when they each came back to the vessel, their moods were completely different. He also couldn't help noticing that in his presence they all talked about the same subject with only subtle and not-so subtle gestures. And to his dismay he eventually gathered what the crew was doing on the island.

Crocodile was on the verge of nodding off when there was a knock on the door and his senses heightened. No one visited his room. Or rarely yes but Crocodile had never heard anyone requesting their entering in such a gentle way.

"Hello," the young woman greeted when the boy opened the door, suspicion tensing his movements.

He certainly didn't know this person. Though, when he browsed through her features he recalled seeing her somewhere. Wavy brown hair that rested well over her shoulders, dark brown eyes, and a roman nose.

Crocodile felt an immediate annoyance when his eyes stuck momentarily with the bold open necktie. It wasn't like he would have been surrounded by the most virtuous people what came to clothing but this…

"Who are you?" he blurted not letting his grasp of the handle go.

The woman blinked her painted eyes from the hostility she was presented with but introduced herself after recollecting the smile back on its place.

"I'm Brynja, your new roommate."

_My new what..? _

It was Crocodile's turn to blink. Whereas his new acquaintance's corners of mouth had turned up, Crocodile's lowered.

"What the hell?" He growled. No one had informed him about a new recruit, or more importantly told him he'd be sharing his room with someone. A private room he had worked hard for. Crocodile bet those shitholes wanted to see him come whining to them.

"Are you one of _them_?" the detest in the last word was solid as ice. It struck the girl whose eyes beneath the heavy lashes widened.

"Not anymore," she said as she passed Crocodile in to his room, her heels clapping to the uneven floor smoothly and steadily.

Crocodile closed the door and grabbed a book from the shelf. He was not in the mood to get to know this person. Particularly this kind of a person.

The woman also noted the shelf in the corner and gave it a thorough look.

"How boring books," she commented and smiled towards Crocodile who didn't return the gesture nor paused his reading.

Despite her earlier words the woman requested to have a closer look at some of the books. The boy mumbled her a go-ahead. Crocodile scratched the back of his head and glimpsed at his roommate with a slightly different view. The woman crouched to scan the books below and Crocodile's eyes focused on the object twirling from her necklace.

"What is that?" Crocodile had seen rings before but people usually kept them in their ring finger if it was the special one. And a ring with a red gemstone certainly seemed like the type.

Brynja cupped the ring and when Crocodile confirmed with a nod she smiled genuinely: "A promise."

When the light offered by the circular window was starting to diminish Crocodile rose from his bed and switched the ceiling light on. He read several chapters from his book but couldn't concentrate on the contents with someone else in the room. It seemed the other had no such problem. Brynja had her eyes locked on the pages before her and hadn't made a single comment.

"You must be displeased with the fact they put you here with me," Crocodile stated to test the woman. There was a brief pause filling the air before the girl responded:

"Actually, I requested it myself."

Crocodile had to turn his face to make sure if the woman was taunting him. She was leaning her chin to her right arm, her eyes still on the book. But her mind drifted to some place or time and, concluding from how her eyes narrowed for that while, it was not a pleasant one.

"I hate being alone," she clarified.

This didn't exclude the fact that she could have chosen anyone to keep her company. Anyone on the ship, well at least all the men, would have eagerly agreed to have her as a roommate. Crocodile chose not to inquire further her reasons for specifically choosing him and also went back to his book.

"What I did before.."

The next words Brynja didn't announce before filling them with resolution: "I will never do it again."

* * *

"How the hell could I be okay?! I'm bleeding!" Crocodile lifted his head up from the covers to glare at the woman he had now shared his room with for months.

"It's part of being a girl," Brynja soothed, meaning her words as a comfort for the boy. She expected Crocodile to groan or curse of the monthly nuisance so she got startled when instead the boy yelled weakly:

"No!"

"I'm not a…I'm not..." Crocodile started trembling and collapsed in himself pleading mentally he could prevent the molding that was happening to him. If not, pleading he could erase his existence.

"I don't understand," Brynja complained in frustration.

She stared at her roommate and fidgeted from seeing him in this unsettling state.

A heavy air was seizing the room and whatever this was about was something she had to thread on very carefully. She would not get a second chance, not with Crocodile. Brynja felt the cold surface of the ring pressing against her skin. She gently caressed the jewel a few times.

"Whatever it is…" she said and closed the ring under her fist for a moment and made her way to the bed and sat on the foot of the bed.

"Tell me and I help."

What followed was a flow of tears and words.

Two strangers united by trust.

All things he'd come to miss in the faraway future.

**/A/N: Thank you for reading! This chapter concludes the childhood part. If you have any questions or suggestions about anything at all, throw me with a pm/review :) /**


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